The Heart of Henry Quantum…and a Giveaway!

Today’s book is for those who like a bit of quirk in their contemporary.  The Heart of Henry Quantum by Pepper Harding is part romantic comedy, part epic Christmas quest and part relationship drama, and it was kindly provided to us by Scribe Australia for review.  Even better is the fact that now you get the chance to win a copy!  Read on for that…but in the meantime, here’s the blurb from Goodreads:

Henry Quantum has several thoughts going through his head at any given time, so it’s no surprise when he forgets something very important — a Christmas gift for his wife, Margaret, which he realises on the morning of December 23rd.

So Henry sets off in search of the perfect present for Margaret: a bottle of Chanel No. 5.

But much like Henry’s ever-wandering mind, his quest takes him in different and unexpected directions, including running into the former love of his life, Daisy. Meanwhile, Margaret is questioning whether she and Henry belong together after all …

‘The Heart of Henry Quantum’ is a sweet, funny, and touching debut which shows how the seemingly insignificant events of one single day can change our lives forever — perhaps, if we’re lucky, for the better.

I was super excited to read this book.  I will say that right up front.  From the blurb and the cover, I thought that this was going to be a book featuring a lovable and slightly forgetful old bloke who ends up discovering how much he loves his dear old wife after an uplifting and heartwarming encounter with an old flame from his youth.  Exactly the sort of story I love, I thought.

So I started reading and soon discovered that Henry is not an old man, but rather a middle-aged fellow with quite remarkable powers of going off at a tangent, mentally.  Also, he works in marketing.

Alright, thought I.  The main character is not who I expected, but I will still give this a go.  Despite the fact that Henry can’t keep a relevant thought in his head for more than two seconds at a time.  And is such a man-child that he can’t even plan ahead to buy his wife a present.

So I read on with an open mind until….we meet Daisy, the former love of Henry’s life.

That’s cool! I thought.  Daisy seems like a fun, interesting gal.  This could be looking up! I thought.

And then we find out that Daisy may be the love of Henry’s life, but their former relationship was carried out during Henry’s marriage to his wife.  The one he can’t remember to buy a Christmas present for.  And Daisy, in order to be with Henry, was also cheating on her husband.

If there is one thing I can’t abide, in real life or in fiction, it is infidelity.  If I had liked Henry more to begin with, I may have pushed on, but since his flights of ideas were already beginning to get on my nerves, I decided to put the book down there, at page 71.

I can see that this book will have a huge number of readers that will absolutely love the contemporary, quirky, rom-com nature of the plot.  Unfortunately though, I do not count myself among their number.

As well as being a let down because I was expecting a completely different kind of story, I am also left in the lurch on not finishing because this was going to be my entry for the letter Q in my Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge.  I had already tried (and failed!) with two previous Q titles, so I was counting on Henry to see me through.

Happily though, this means that one of you can now snag a copy of The Heart of Henry Quantum by Pepper Harding and provided to us by Scribe.

The giveaway is open internationally and other Ts & Cs are in the rafflecopter form.  The giveaway will run from today until November 23rd, 2016.

To enter, just click on the Rafflecopter link below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Until next time,

Bruce